Native trees grow much faster than non-native trees. But even experienced horticulturists can be mystified about how nature sows and germinates seeds especially acorns and walnuts.

Thanks to this book, any gardener can now grow trees from seeds within as little as ten years. The secrets are to know what seeds to collect and how to prepare and plant them. From their extensive knowledge, the authors guide the reader in identifying native trees, vines and shrubs and describe howto propagate them.

Growing Trees from Seed covers the ecology, abundance, fruit characteristics and edibility of the more than 200 species discussed in this book. There is expert guidance on when to gather fruits, how to extract seeds from the fruit, and when and how to treat and germinate the seed, plus information on transplanting and expected growth rate. Alerts throughout the book identify closely related non-native species now common to various regions.

Many illustrations and descriptions help the reader with plant identification. A seed-treatment guide provides a handy reference.

Publishers Weekly® Reviews

Reviewed in:
Publishers Weekly,
page
59.

Review Date:
2008-08-04

Reviewer:
Staff

In this comprehensive coffee-table–sized guide, Kock, a Canadian horticulturist who died in 2005, not only shows how to find and propagate native woody plants but also helps readers “understand plants as members of communities of plants and animals rather than as isolated specimens.” He tells how to differentiate native plants from invasive exotics and how to collect, clean, germinate and plant seeds and set up a nursery, along with intriguing suggestions (keep a toad in a cold frame to eat slugs) and surprising facts (earthworms are not “native to the glaciated areas of North America, and contrary to popular gardening belief, they do a huge amount of damage by dragging undecomposed organic material into the soil, where it does not belong”). The book's focus is woody plants of the Great Lakes bioregion, but Koch assures that the techniques will apply to other regions and species as well. With beautifully detailed line drawings and color photographs, the book provides both inspiration and knowledge to “think like a seed... listen to the seed's story as written by the land and water where the seed was formed, and the wind, water, and animals that distribute it.” (Sept.)

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